The Thale-Harate Kannada Podcast has had several discussions on urban governance, planning and development. But what about India's villages? How does democracy operate at the most local level, and how does it go beyond voting and elections? In Episode 23, Vijayendra Rao talks to Pavan Srinath and Ganesh Chakravarthi about India's Gram Sabhas, one of India's biggest democratic successes since independence.

Vijayendra Rao is a Lead Economist in the Development Research Group of the World Bank, who has been studying local governance, participation, democracy and development in India and elsewhere for the last two decades and more. His latest book is on Oral Democracy: Deliberation in Indian Village Assemblies, which he has co-authored with Paromita Sanyal. The full book is available online. In their book, they have recorded and analysed over 300 Gram Sabha discussions across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh to examine the quality of deliberation and consensus-based decision-making. Dr Rao talks about what they learnt about Gram Sabhas, and about how government policies and literacy can influence the quality of local discussions.